Kitabı oku: «The Death of Wallenstein», sayfa 5

SCENE VIII

WALLENSTEIN, TERZKY, ILLO.

ILLO (who enters agitated with rage)

 
Treason and mutiny!
 

TERZKY

 
             And what further now?
 

ILLO

 
  Tiefenbach's soldiers, when I gave the orders.
  To go off guard – mutinous villains!
 

TERZKY

 
  Well!
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
      What followed?
 

ILLO

 
  They refused obedience to them.
 

TERZKY

 
  Fire on them instantly! Give out the order.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  Gently! what cause did they assign?
 

ILLO

 
                     No other,
  They said, had right to issue orders but
  Lieutenant-General Piccolomini.
 

WALLENSTEIN (in a convulsion of agony)

 
  What? How is that?
 

ILLO

 
  He takes that office on him by commission,
  Under sign-manual from the emperor.
 

TERZKY

 
  From the emperor – hearest thou, duke?
 

ILLO

 
                      At his incitement
  The generals made that stealthy flight —
 

TERZKY

 
                       Duke, hearest thou?
 

ILLO

 
  Caraffa too, and Montecuculi,
  Are missing, with six other generals,
  All whom he had induced to follow him.
  This plot he has long had in writing by him
  From the emperor; but 'twas finally concluded,
  With all the detail of the operation,
  Some days ago with the Envoy Questenberg.
 

[WALLENSTEIN sinks down into a chair and covers his face.

TERZKY

 
  Oh, hadst thou but believed me!
 

SCENE IX

To them enter the COUNTESS.

COUNTESS

 
                This suspense,
  This horrid fear – I can no longer bear it.
  For heaven's sake tell me what has taken place?
 

ILLO

 
  The regiments are falling off from us.
 

TERZKY

 
  Octavio Piccolomini is a traitor.
 

COUNTESS

 
  O my foreboding!
 

[Rushes out of the room.

TERZKY

 
           Hadst thou but believed me!
  Now seest thou how the stars have lied to thee.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  The stars lie not; but we have here a work
  Wrought counter to the stars and destiny.
  The science is still honest: this false heart
  Forces a lie on the truth-telling heaven,
  On a divine law divination rests;
  Where nature deviates from that law, and stumbles
  Out of her limits, there all science errs.
  True I did not suspect! Were it superstition
  Never by such suspicion to have affronted
  The human form, oh, may the time ne'er come
  In which I shame me of the infirmity.
  The wildest savage drinks not with the victim,
  Into whose breast he means to plunge the sword.
  This, this, Octavio, was no hero's deed
  'Twas not thy prudence that did conquer mine;
  A bad heart triumphed o'er an honest one.
  No shield received the assassin stroke; thou plungest
  Thy weapon on an unprotected breast —
  Against such weapons I am but a child.
 

SCENE X

To these enter BUTLER.

TERZKY (meeting him)

 
  Oh, look there, Butler! Here we've still a friend!
 

WALLENSTEIN (meets him with outspread arms and embraces him with warmth)

 
  Come to my heart, old comrade! Not the sun
  Looks out upon us more revivingly,
  In the earliest month of spring,
  Than a friend's countenance in such an hour.
 

BUTLER

 
  My general; I come —
 

WALLENSTEIN (leaning on BUTLER'S shoulder)

 
             Knowest thou already
  That old man has betrayed me to the emperor.
  What sayest thou? Thirty years have we together
  Lived out, and held out, sharing joy and hardship.
  We have slept in one camp-bed, drank from one glass,
  One morsel shared! I leaned myself on him,
  As now I lean me on thy faithful shoulder,
  And now in the very moment when, all love,
  All confidence, my bosom beat to his
  He sees and takes the advantage, stabs the knife
  Slowly into my heart.
 

[He hides his face on BUTLER's breast.

BUTLER

 
              Forget the false one.
  What is your present purpose?
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
                  Well remembered!
  Courage, my soul! I am still rich in friends,
  Still loved by destiny; for in the moment
  That it unmasks the plotting hypocrite
  It sends and proves to me one faithful heart.
  Of the hypocrite no more! Think not his loss
  Was that which struck the pang: Oh, no! his treason
  Is that which strikes the pang! No more of him!
  Dear to my heart, and honored were they both,
  And the young man – yes – he did truly love me,
  He – he – has not deceived me. But enough,
  Enough of this – swift counsel now beseems us.
  The courier, whom Count Kinsky sent from Prague,
  I expect him every moment: and whatever
  He may bring with him we must take good care
  To keep it from the mutineers. Quick then!
  Despatch some messenger you can rely on
  To meet him, and conduct him to me.
 

[ILLO is going.

BUTLER (detaining him)

 
  My general, whom expect you then?
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
                    The courier
  Who brings me word of the event at Prague.
 

BUTLER (hesitating)

 
  Hem!
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
     And what now?
 

BUTLER

 
             You do not know it?
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  Well?
 

BUTLER

 
  From what that larum in the camp arose?
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  From what?
 

BUTLER

 
        That courier —
 

WALLENSTEIN (with eager expectation)

 
                 Well?
 

BUTLER

 
                     Is already here.
 

TERZKY and ILLO (at the same time)

 
  Already here?
 

WALLENSTEIEN

 
          My courier?
 

BUTLER

 
                 For some hours.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  And I not know it?
 

BUTLER

 
            The sentinels detain him
  In custody.
 

ILLO (stamping with his foot)

 
         Damnation!
 

BUTLER

 
               And his letter
  Was broken open, and is circulated
  Through the whole camp.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
               You know what it contains?
 

BUTLER

 
  Question me not.
 

TERZKY

 
           Illo! Alas for us.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  Hide nothing from me – I can bear the worst.
  Prague then is lost. It is. Confess it freely.
 

BUTLER

 
  Yes! Prague is lost. And all the several regiments
  At Budweiss, Tabor, Braunau, Koenigingratz,
  At Brunn, and Znaym, have forsaken you,
  And taken the oaths of fealty anew
  To the emperor. Yourself, with Kinsky, Terzky,
  And Illo have been sentenced.
 

[TERZKY and ILLO express alarm and fury. WALLENSTEIN remains firm and collected.

WALLENSTEIN

 
  'Tis decided! 'Tis well! I have received a sudden cure
  From all the pangs of doubt: with steady stream
  Once more my life-blood flows! My soul's secure!
  In the night only Friedland stars can beam.
  Lingering irresolute, with fitful fears
  I drew the sword – 'twas with an inward strife,
  While yet the choice was mine. The murderous knife
  Is lifted for my heart! Doubt disappears!
  I fight now for my head and for my life.
 

[Exit WALLENSTEIN; the others follow him.

SCENE XI

COUNTESS TERZKY (enters from a side room).

 
  I can endure no longer. No!
 

[Looks around her.

 
                 Where are they!
  No one is here. They leave me all alone,
  Alone in this sore anguish of suspense.
  And I must wear the outward show of calmness
  Before my sister, and shut in within me
  The pangs and agonies of my crowded bosom.
  It is not to be borne. If all should fail;
  If – if he must go over to the Swedes,
  An empty-handed fugitive, and not
  As an ally, a covenanted equal,
  A proud commander with his army following,
  If we must wander on from land to land,
  Like the Count Palatine, of fallen greatness
  An ignominious monument. But no!
  That day I will not see! And could himself
  Endure to sink so low, I would not bear
  To see him so low sunken.
 

SCENE XII

COUNTESS, DUCHESS, THEKLA.

THEKLA (endeavoring to hold back the DUCHESS)

 
  Dear mother, do stay here!
 

DUCHESS

 
                No! Here is yet
  Some frightful mystery that is hidden from me.
  Why does my sister shun me? Don't I see her
  Full of suspense and anguish roam about
  From room to room? Art thou not full of terror?
  And what import these silent nods and gestures
  Which stealthwise thou exchangest with her?
 

THEKLA

 
                         Nothing
  Nothing, dear mother!
 

DUCHESS (to the COUNTESS)

 
              Sister, I will know.
 

COUNTESS

 
  What boots it now to hide it from her? Sooner
  Or later she must learn to hear and bear it.
  'Tis not the time now to indulge infirmity;
  Courage beseems us now, a heart collect,
  And exercise and previous discipline
  Of fortitude. One word, and over with it!
  Sister, you are deluded. You believe
  The duke has been deposed – the duke is not
  Deposed – he is —
 

THEKLA (going to the COUNTESS),

 
           What? do you wish to kill her?
 

COUNTESS

 
  The duke is —
 

THEKLA (throwing her arms round her mother)

 
          Oh, stand firm! stand firm, my mother!
 

COUNTESS

 
  Revolted is the duke; he is preparing
  To join the enemy; the army leave him,
  And all has failed.
 

SCENE XIII

A spacious room in the Duke of Friedland's palace.

WALLENSTEIN (in armor)

 
  Thou hast gained thy point, Octavio! Once more am I
  Almost as friendless as at Regensburg.
  There I had nothing left me but myself;
  But what one man can do you have now experience.
  The twigs have you hewed off, and here I stand
  A leafless trunk. But in the sap within
  Lives the creating power, and a new world
  May sprout forth from it. Once already have I
  Proved myself worth an army to you – I alone!
  Before the Swedish strength your troops had melted;
  Beside the Lech sank Tilly, your last hope;
  Into Bavaria, like a winter torrent,
  Did that Gustavus pour, and at Vienna
  In his own palace did the emperor tremble.
  Soldiers were scarce, for still the multitude
  Follow the luck: all eyes were turned on me,
  Their helper in distress; the emperor's pride
  Bowed itself down before the man he had injured.
  'Twas I must rise, and with creative word
  Assemble forces in the desolate camps.
  I did it. Like a god of war my name
  Went through the world. The drum was beat; and, to
  The plough, the workshop is forsaken, all
  Swarm to the old familiar long loved banners;
  And as the wood-choir rich in melody
  Assemble quick around the bird of wonder,
  When first his throat swells with his magic song,
  So did the warlike youth of Germany
  Crowd in around the image of my eagle.
  I feel myself the being that I was.
  It is the soul that builds itself a body,
  And Friedland's camp will not remain unfilled.
  Lead then your thousands out to meet me – true!
  They are accustomed under me to conquer,
  But not against me. If the head and limbs
  Separate from each other, 'twill be soon
  Made manifest in which the soul abode.
 

(ILLO and TERZKY enter.)

 
  Courage, friends! courage! we are still unvanquished;
  I feel my footing firm; five regiments, Terzky,
  Are still our own, and Butler's gallant troops;
  And an host of sixteen thousand Swedes to-morrow.
  I was not stronger when, nine years ago,
  I marched forth, with glad heart and high of hope,
  To conquer Germany for the emperor.
 

SCENE XIV

WALLENSTEIN, ILLO, TERZKY.

(To them enter NEUMANN, who leads TERZKY aside, and talks with him.)

TERZKY

 
  What do they want?
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
            What now?
 

TERZKY

 
                  Ten cuirassiers
  From Pappenheim request leave to address you
  In the name of the regiment.
 

WALLENSTEIN (hastily to NEUMANN)

 
                 Let them enter.
 

[Exit NEUMANN.

 
                          This
  May end in something. Mark you. They are still
  Doubtful, and may be won.
 

SCENE XV

WALLENSTEIN, TERZKY, ILLO, ten CUIRASSIERS (led by an ANSPESSADE⁴, march up and arrange themselves, after the word of command, in one front before the DUKE, and make their obeisance. He takes his hat off, and immediately covers himself again).

ANSPESSADE

 
  Halt! Front! Present!
 

WALLENSTEIN (after he has run through them with his eye, to the

ANSPESSADE)

I know thee well. Thou art out of Brueggen in Flanders:

Thy name is Mercy.

ANSPESSADE

Henry Mercy.

WALLENSTEIN. Thou were cut off on the march, surrounded by the Hessians, and didst fight thy way with an hundred and eighty men through their thousand.

ANSPESSADE. 'Twas even so, general!

WALLENSTEIN. What reward hadst thou for this gallant exploit?

ANSPESSADE. That which I asked for: the honor to serve in this corps.

WALLENSTEIN (turning to a second). Thou wert among the volunteers that seized and made booty of the Swedish battery at Altenburg.

SECOND CUIRASSIER. Yes, general!

WALLENSTEIN. I forget no one with whom I have exchanged words.

(A pause.) Who sends you?

ANSPESSADE. Your noble regiment, the cuirassiers of Piccolomini.

WALLENSTEIN. Why does not your colonel deliver in your request according to the custom of service?

ANSPESSADE. Because we would first know whom we serve.

WALLENSTEIN. Begin your address.

ANSPESSADE (giving the word of command). Shoulder your arms!

WALLENSTEIN (turning to a third). Thy name is Risbeck; Cologne is thy birthplace.

THIRD CUIRASSIER. Risbeck of Cologne.

WALLENSTEIN. It was thou that broughtest in the Swedish colonel Duebald, prisoner, in the camp at Nuremberg.

THIRD CUIRASSIER. It was not I, general.

WALLENSTRIN. Perfectly right! It was thy elder brother: thou hadst a younger brother, too: where did he stay?

THIRD CUIRASSIER. He is stationed at Olmutz, with the imperial army.

WALLENSTEIN (to the ANSPESSADE). Now then – begin.

ANSPESSADE

 
  There came to hand a letter from the emperor
  Commanding us —
 

WALLENSTEIN (interrupting him)

 
           Who chose you?
 

ANSPESSADE

 
                   Every company
  Drew its own man by lot.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
               Now! to the business.
 

ANSPESSADE

 
  There came to hand a letter from the emperor
  Commanding us, collectively, from thee
  All duties of obedience to withdraw,
  Because thou wert an enemy and traitor.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  And what did you determine?
 

ANSPESSADE

 
                 All our comrades
  At Braunau, Budweiss, Prague, and Olmutz, have
  Obeyed already; and the regiments here,
  Tiefenbach and Toscano, instantly
  Did follow their example. But – but we
  Do not believe that thou art an enemy
  And traitor to thy country, hold it merely
  For lie and trick, and a trumped-up Spanish story!
 

[With warmth.

 
  Thyself shall tell us what thy purpose is,
  For we have found thee still sincere and true
  No mouth shall interpose itself betwixt
  The gallant general and the gallant troops.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  Therein I recognize my Pappenheimers.
 

ANSPESSADE

 
  And this proposal makes thy regiment to thee:
  Is it thy purpose merely to preserve
  In thine own hands this military sceptre,
  Which so becomes thee, which the emperor
  Made over to thee by a covenant!
  Is it thy purpose merely to remain
  Supreme commander of the Austrian armies?
  We will stand by thee, general! and guarantee
  Thy honest rights against all opposition.
  And should it chance, that all the other regiments
  Turn from thee, by ourselves we will stand forth
  Thy faithful soldiers, and, as is our duty,
  Far rather let ourselves be cut to pieces
  Than suffer thee to fall. But if it be
  As the emperor's letter says, if it be true,
  That thou in traitorous wise wilt lead us over
  To the enemy, which God in heaven forbid!
  Then we too will forsake thee, and obey
  That letter —
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
          Hear me, children!
 

ANSPESSADE

 
                    Yes, or no,
  There needs no other answer.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
                 Yield attention.
  You're men of sense, examine for yourselves;
  Ye think, and do not follow with the herd:
  And therefore have I always shown you honor
  Above all others, suffered you to reason;
  Have treated you as free men, and my orders
  Were but the echoes of your prior suffrage.
 

ANSPESSADE

 
  Most fair and noble has thy conduct been
  To us, my general! With thy confidence
  Thou has honored us, and shown us grace and favor
  Beyond all other regiments; and thou seest
  We follow not the common herd. We will
  Stand by thee faithfully. Speak but one word —
  Thy word shall satisfy us that it is not
  A treason which thou meditatest – that
  Thou meanest not to lead the army over
  To the enemy; nor e'er betray thy country.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  Me, me are they betraying. The emperor
  Hath sacrificed me to my enemies,
  And I must fall, unless my gallant troops
  Will rescue me. See! I confide in you.
  And be your hearts my stronghold! At this breast
  The aim is taken, at this hoary head.
  This is your Spanish gratitude, this is our
  Requital for that murderous fight at Luetzen!
  For this we threw the naked breast against
  The halbert, made for this the frozen earth
  Our bed, and the hard stone our pillow! never stream
  Too rapid for us, nor wood too impervious;
  With cheerful spirit we pursued that Mansfeldt
  Through all the turns and windings of his flight:
  Yea, our whole life was but one restless march:
  And homeless, as the stirring wind, we travelled
  O'er the war-wasted earth. And now, even now,
  That we have well-nigh finished the hard toil,
  The unthankful, the curse-laden toil of weapons,
  With faithful indefatigable arm
  Have rolled the heavy war-load up the hill,
  Behold! this boy of the emperor's bears away
  The honors of the peace, an easy prize!
  He'll weave, forsooth, into his flaxen locks
  The olive branch, the hard-earned ornament
  Of this gray head, grown gray beneath the helmet.
 

ANSPESSADE

 
  That shall he not, while we can hinder it!
  No one, but thou, who has conducted it
  With fame, shall end this war, this frightful war.
  Thou leadest us out to the bloody field
  Of death; thou and no other shalt conduct us home,
  Rejoicing, to the lovely plains of peace —
  Shalt share with us the fruits of the long toil.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  What! Think you then at length in late old age
  To enjoy the fruits of toil? Believe it not.
  Never, no never, will you see the end
  Of the contest! you and me, and all of us,
  This war will swallow up! War, war, not peace,
  Is Austria's wish; and therefore, because I
  Endeavored after peace, therefore I fall.
  For what cares Austria how long the war
  Wears out the armies and lays waste the world!
  She will but wax and grow amid the ruin
  And still win new domains.
 

[The CUIRASSIERS express agitation by their gestures.

 
                Ye're moved – I see
  A noble rage flash from your eyes, ye warriors!
  Oh, that my spirit might possess you now
  Daring as once it led you to the battle
  Ye would stand by me with your veteran arms,
  Protect me in my rights; and this is noble!
  But think not that you can accomplish it,
  Your scanty number! to no purpose will you
  Have sacrificed you for your general.
 

[Confidentially.

 
  No! let us tread securely, seek for friends;
  The Swedes have proffered us assistance, let us
  Wear for a while the appearance of good-will,
  And use them for your profit, till we both
  Carry the fate of Europe in our hands,
  And from our camp to the glad jubilant world
  Lead peace forth with the garland on her head!
 

ANSPESSADE

 
  'Tis then but mere appearances which thou
  Dost put on with the Swede! Thou'lt not betray
  The emperor? Wilt not turn us into Swedes?
  This is the only thing which we desire
  To learn from thee.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
             What care I for the Swedes?
  I hate them as I hate the pit of hell,
  And under Providence I trust right soon
  To chase them to their homes across their Baltic.
  My cares are only for the whole: I have
  A heart – it bleeds within me for the miseries
  And piteous groanings of my fellow-Germans.
  Ye are but common men, but yet ye think
  With minds not common; ye appear to me
  Worthy before all others, that I whisper thee
  A little word or two in confidence!
  See now! already for full fifteen years,
  The war-torch has continued burning, yet
  No rest, no pause of conflict. Swede and German,
  Papist and Lutheran! neither will give way
  To the other; every hand's against the other.
  Each one is party and no one a judge.
  Where shall this end? Where's he that will unravel
  This tangle, ever tangling more and more
  It must be cut asunder.
  I feel that I am the man of destiny,
  And trust, with your assistance, to accomplish it.
 

SCENE XVI

To these enter BUTLER.

BUTLER (passionately)

 
  General! this is not right!
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
                 What is not right?
 

BUTLER

 
  It must needs injure us with all honest men.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  But what?
 

BUTLER

 
        It is an open proclamation
  Of insurrection.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
           Well, well – but what is it?
 

BUTLER

 
  Count Terzky's regiments tear the imperial eagle
  From off his banners, and instead of it
  Have reared aloft their arms.
 

ANSPESSADE (abruptly to the CUIRASSIERS)

 
                  Right about! March!
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  Cursed be this counsel, and accursed who gave it!
 

[To the CUIRASSIERS, who are retiring.

 
  Halt, children, halt! There's some mistake in this;
  Hark! I will punish it severely. Stop
  They do not hear. (To ILLO). Go after them, assure them,
  And bring them back to me, cost what it may.
 

[ILLO hurries out.

 
  This hurls us headlong. Butler! Butler!
  You are my evil genius, wherefore must you
  Announce it in their presence? It was all
  In a fair way. They were half won! those madmen
  With their improvident over-readiness —
  A cruel game is Fortune playing with me.
  The zeal of friends it is that razes me,
  And not the hate of enemies.